President Donald Trump says 'tremendous progress' has been made with Beijing amid the tariff war
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The White House announced a trade deal with China after two days of talks in Geneva, while Beijing welcomed the "important first steps."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant told reporters on Sunday that "substantial progress" had been made in talks in Geneva between his team and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to resolve the trade war that erupted between the world's two largest economies after Donald Trump imposed 145% tariffs.
At a news conference later Sunday, a top Chinese trade official, He, called the talks "conclusive" and said enough progress had been made to reach "important consensus," according to Chinese state media. The two sides will issue a joint statement during the talks on Monday, the vice premier said.
In televised comments posted on the White House's social media, Besant said he would provide more details on Monday, "but I can tell you that the talks have been fruitful."
The US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, who spoke with Besant, indicated more forcefully that an agreement had been reached.
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“It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to reach an agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not as great as they had been thought,” Greer said.
“Just remember why we are here in the first place,” he added. “The United States has a huge trade deficit of $1.2 trillion, so the president has declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs, and we are confident that our agreement with our Chinese partners will help us overcome that national emergency.”
China’s International Trade Representative Li Chenggang said the two sides had agreed to establish a joint mechanism focused on “regular and irregular communication on trade and commercial matters.”
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Asked if there would be an announcement on the talks before the opening of financial markets, Li said: “The food is delicious, then time is not an issue... whenever it is released, it will be big, good news,” hIf e said.
This is the first face-to-face meeting between Besant, Greer, and Hee since the world’s two largest economies imposed tariffs of more than 100% on each other’s goods. Financial markets are on edge as signs of a trade war that has already begun to disrupt supply chains, cause layoffs, and increase wholesale prices.
While Besant said the bilateral tariffs are excessive and need to be reduced as a way to de-escalate tensions, he did not elaborate on what reductions had been agreed upon and did not answer any questions from reporters.
On Saturday night, Trump wrote on his social media platform that the two sides were working on a “complete restructuring … friendly, but constructive.”
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“A lot was discussed, a lot was agreed upon,” Trump posted. “We want China to open its doors to American business, for the good of both China and America. Great progress!!!” Trump added. Trump's claim that China needs to be "opened up" to American business ignores half a century of trade between the two countries, which began with his political hero Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed to CNN that the US would maintain a "10% baseline tariff" for the foreseeable future, even on imports from countries with which the US has signed new trade deals.
On Sunday, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said: "What is going to happen is there is a possibility of a reopening of the relationship. It seems like the Chinese are very keen to play ball and normalise things... They want to rebuild a relationship that is great for both of us."
Last week, Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a limited bilateral trade deal.
Hassett said the UK deal provided a “really exciting blueprint” and that he had been briefed on 24 deals with other countries in the works. “They all look a bit like UK deals, but each is its own,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lutnick dismissed reports that dock workers and truck drivers would lose their jobs as a result of the tariffs.
“This is just a China problem right now,” Lutnick said. “The rest of the world has a 10% [tariff], so don’t overdo it.”
“If this policy works, prices will stabilize,” Lutnick added.
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Gary Hafbauer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said in an interview during the talks that the talks were “good news for business and financial markets.”
But Hafbauer warned, “I am very skeptical that the US-China trade relationship will return to anything like normal.” He said that even a 70-80% tariff could cut bilateral trade in half.
“The devil is in the details,” said ASPI’s Cutler. “Without the details, it is difficult to assess whether the meeting was successful.”
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